SQLite format 3@  ii!%%atableTopicsTopicsCREATE TABLE Topics (Title NVARCHAR(100), Notes TEXT) ΐΐ‰‡tA’Ž5Fulness of Time and other Studies in Theology{\rtf1\ansi\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue255;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\sl240\slmult1\lang2058\f0\fs24 THE FULNESS OF TIME \par AND OTHER STUDIES \par IN THEOLOGY: \par BY THE REV. JOSEPH CONN, B.D. \par \par MINISTER OF TILLICOULTRY \par \par {\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "www.archive.org/details/fulnessoftimeoth00conniala"}}{\fldrslt{\ul\cf1 www.archive.org/details/fulnessoftimeoth00conniala}}}\f0\fs24\par \par GLASGOW \par JAMES MACLEHOSE & SONS \par \par publishers to tbe University \par \par 1903 ^ \par DP ' \par \par \par \par GLASGOW : PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS \par BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. \par \par THE FULNESS OF TIME \par PUBLISHED BY \par \par JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS, GLASGOW \par ilublialwre to tht Gnibmttg. \par \par MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON. \par New York, The Macntillan Co. \par London, Simfkin, Hamilton and Co. \par Cambridge, - Macmillan and Bowes. \par Edinburgh, Douglas and Faults. \par Sydney, 'Angus and Robert ton. \par \par \par \par \par CONTENTS \par \par CHAP. ^ "~-v^ PAGE \par \par I. THE (^ERSONALITY OF Gom - i \par \par II. THEWORLIJAND THE LlFE OF MAN: HOW THE OLD \par \par TESTAMENT WRITERS LOOKED AT THEM, - - 17 \par \par IIIj FAITH) IN GOD: AT THE ROOT OF JEWISH HOPES \par \par AND EXPECTATIONS, 26 \par \par IV. THECpULNESS OF TlM^ 38 \par \par V. THE IMPRESSION MADE BY (CHRIST) ON THOSE WHO \par \par HAD EYES TO SEE, 59 \par \par VI. CHRIST'S RECEPTION BY THE JEWS, - - - - 71 \par \par Vll. THE ATTITUDE OF THE ENLIGHTENED GREEKS \par \par TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY, 87 \par \par /~* ~"~^*>^ -> \par VIII. THE INCARNATIONS THE POSSIBILITY OF IT, AND \par \par THE NECESSITY FOR IT, 102 \par \par IX. CHRISTIANITY ANSWERS TO THE NATURE AND THE \par \par NEEDS OF MAN, 117 \par \par X. CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE DIVINE TRUTH, - - 136 \par \par XI. WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST?\} 156 \par \par XII. A NEW EARTH WHEREIN DWELLETH RIGHTEOUSNESS, 184 \par \par XIII. THE COMPLETION OF THE; KINGDOM OF GOD) - - 200 \par \par \par \par " In necessariis unitas, indubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas." \par RUPERT SELDEN. \par \par \par \par "The world, after all, is a fact: sun, moon, and stars are \par real ; men and women live and love ; the moral law is strong ; \par in a word, the universe exists, and some positive account of it \par must needs be true ; it can never be finally explained by a \par negation."). R. ILLINGWORTH. \par \par ' ' We must think of Christianity as essentially related to the \par antecedent course of man's spiritual life, and related to it in a \par way which man's rational spiritual life by its very nature \par involves. But the connection of Christianity with the past \par which we here assert is a connection which at the same time \par involves the annulling and transmuting of the past by a new \par creative spiritual force." PRINCIPAL CAIRO. \par \par " But when The Fulness of Time was come, God sent forth \par his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem \par them that were under the law, that we might receive the \par adoption of Sons." GAL. iv. 4, 5. \par \par \par \par I. \par \par THE PERSONALITY OF GOD. \par \par The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want (Ps. xxiii. i). \par \par Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that \par fear him (Ps. ciii. 13). \par \par Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from \par thy presence (Ps. cxxxix. 7). \par \par THE distinguishing characteristic of the Religion \par of the Israelites is well known to every reader \par of the Old Testament. While the nations that \par surrounded them were given up to Polytheism and \par Idolatry, the Israelites believed in one only living \par and true God : Creator and director of all things : \par One who, though transcending, was yet immanent \par in the world : a Personal and Ethical Being who \par stood in moral relationship with man. \par \par How exalted this belief appears to be when it is \par compared with the beliefs that prevailed in those \par early times ! And how true it seems when con- \par trasted with some of the most modern interpretations \par of our religious impressions ! \par \par Does a man believe in more Gods than one? \par Then his belief is in direct conflict with that faith in \par the unity of nature which every increase in scientific \par knowledge helps to strengthen. \par \par A \par \par \par \par 2 THE PERSONALITY OF GOD. \par \par Does any one assert that the universe is simply a \par gigantic piece of mechanism constructed and set \par agoing by one who has vanished from the scene \p ar of his labours and has gone we know not whither ? \par Such a belief will, of course, destroy religion, but it \par will do more. It will put an end to all ethics, to \par all our ideals, and to all our efforts to realise them. \par "It will reduce" says Mr. B. F. C. Costelloe \par " consciousness to a mockery, spirituality to a dream, \par and love to a chemical attraction : and after all it \par will have explained nothing, but have rendered \par everything insoluble." \par \par Does a man believe in an Impersonal God, "a \par stream of tendency which makes for righteousness"? \par Then the question arises, How can you have righteous- \par ness without right thinking and conscientious doing ? \par And how can you have these apart from a Person ? \par Moreover, a belief of this kind is likely to carry a \par man further than he may be inclined to go. A stream \par must flow in its appointed channel, and it cannot rise \par higher than the source from which it comes. A \par stream must have its origin in the hills of God, \par and find its replenishment in the rains that fall from \par heaven. \par \par Does a man believe that this divinely fair and \par cunningly ordered universe owes its origin to accident \par and its government to chance ? Then he believes in \par a miracle infinitely greater than any recorded in the \par word of God. " Was there " asks Lord Kelvin \par " anything so absurd as to believe that a number of \par atoms by falling together of their own accord, could \par make a sprig of moss, a microbe, a living animal? \par People thought that given millions of years these \par \par \par \par THE PERSONALITY OF GOD. 3 \par \par might come to pass, but they could not think that a \par million of millions of millions of years could give \par them unaided a beautiful world like ours. . . . \par Forty years ago I asked Liebig, walking somewhere \par in the country, if he believed that the grass and \par flowers which we saw around us grew by mere \par chemical forces ? He answered, No ; no more than \par I could believe that a book of botany describing \par them could grow by mere chemical forces." \par \par Some scientific men, it is true, do not like to \par be asked to take their choice in what seems an \par inevitable alternative belief in a creative and direc- \par tive Power, or belief in a fortuitous concourse of \par atoms. They prefer to think of the world as gra- \par dually evolved by eternal laws out of primeval atoms, \par elements, matter. But evolution, we must carefully \par remember, is not, of necessity, such a godless creed \par as many have imagined it to be. \par f" When the famous French mathematician Laplace \par went to Napoleon to beg him to accept a copy of \par his great work, the Mecanique Celeste, Napoleon said \par to him, " Mons. Laplace, they tell me you have written \par this large book on the system of the universe and \par have never even mentioned its Creator." Laplace, \par though time-serving as a politician, was as conscien- \par tious as a martyr in reference to his philosophy, \par and drawing himself up he bluntly replied, " I had no \par need of that hypothesis." Napoleon, greatly amused, \par related the incident to the celebrated mathematician \par Lagrange, who exclaimed, " Ah, that is a beautiful \par hypothesis ; it explains so many things." How \par different Laplace's conduct was from that of Sir Isaac \par Newton, who closed the third book of his Principia \par \par \par \par 4 THE PERSONALITY OF GOD. \par \par with a noble passage of ascription to " the Most \par High God, the Eternal, the Infinite, the Omnipotent, \par and Omniscient, who ruleth all things not as a mere \par spirit of the Universe, but as the Lord and Master \par of all, whose name is the Lord God Almighty.'^/ \par \par There was an excuse for Laplace. He dealt with \par the universe as a mathematical problem in dynamics. \par To him the universe was a machine, and the things \par he had to discuss were blind forces which could be \par measured, and dead matter with the characteristics of \par mass, weight, rigidity. But how different all things \par are to the modern evolutionist ! Matter to him is \par not dead and unproductive, but possessed of " the \par promise and the potency" of all things. Atoms to \par him are not lifeless but animated, endowed with the \par properties of attraction and repulsion, and possessed \par of such a resemblance to life, feeling, thought, that \par pleasure and pain and love and hate may almost be \par predicated of them. To him chemical elements are \par no longer simple elements, but resolvable into simpler \par forms of matter, which in turn may be refined away \par altogether into ethereal vibrations or electrical energy; \par so that atoms of matter have come to "ue thought of \par by some as concentrated portions of electricity. To \par the man of science in our day there is no such thing \par as empty space. To him the whole of space, so far \par as it is not occupied by ponderable matter, is filled \par with a continuous ultra-gaseous substance called \par ether a substance which is so light and subtle that \par it cannot be weighed, if indeed it has any weight a \par substance which is for ever in motion, and to whose \par vibrations we are indebted for light, radiant heat, \par magnetism and electricity. \par \par \par \par THE PERSONALITY OF GOD. 5 \par \par The man who goes to the root of things, therefore, \par if he has eyes to see, may well find himself at every \par step face to face not merely with a creative, but also \par with an indwelling and directive Power: for how can \par " purposive contrivance " be produced by purely \par mechanical processes without design ? We are not \par surprised, therefore, when we discover that even such \par a man as Haeckel sees God everywhere and recog- \par nises the Divine Spirit in all things, and is able to \par quote with approval the words of Giordano Bruno, \par " There is one spirit in all things, and no body is so \par small that it does not contain a part of the divine \par substance whereby it is animated." \par \par And so the advance of science does not necessarily \par tend to banish God from the Universe. On the con- \par trary it enables us to emphasise more strongly than \par we have hitherto done the great fact of the divine \par Immanence, for it reveals God as a permanent \par resident in the world, and not as a mere occasional \par visitor coming now and again to supplement or \par amend His original creation by external and arbitrary \par interferences. If law implies Lawmaker, and if " the \par reign of law " be regarded as another name for the \par abiding Presence of a great sustaining and directing \par Power, it is difficult for us to find fault with Dr. \par Strong, Dean of Christ Church, when he defines \par evolution as " an organic teleological process, a \par process guided by rational purpose at every step, \par determined in every detail by the consciousness of \par an end in view." If all things are for ever changing, \par if the world is only in the process of being made, if \par the universe is only becoming what it will one day \par be, then the question arises, what is the nature of the \par \par \par \par 6 THE PERSONALITY OF GOD. \par \par change that is thus taking place? If it is not a \par mere drift or aimless clash of elements producing \par chance products to be devoured by chaos, but an \par evolution or process evolving higher and higher \par forms, then there is order underlying the change, and \par purpose behind the order with a guiding hand direct- \par ing things towards the predestined end. \par f To some men in our day the existence of God \par would almost seem to be a luminous self-evident \par fact. They need no argument to convince them, for \par their spiritual vision is such that they can say : \par \par " Where'er I look abroad, \par I see the living form and face of God." \par \par To others, God is a spiritual experience an ex- \par perience which, they think, can only be theirs because \par God makes His presence felt in their souls. God is \par immanent, they say, in man's rational, moral, and \par spiritual nature, and influences that side of our nature \par where the finite being blends with the Universal \par Being : and so our best knowledge of God is an \par immediate consciousness of God. " The feeling of \par God within us is, for us at least who feel, the certified \par fact that God is." , \par \par But man is essentially a rational being, and it is \par only by slow and laboured steps that many men rise \par from the seen to the unseen, from nature up to \par nature's God. Nevertheless, by men and women of \par this kind, if they are earnest in their search, there are \par always to be found in reason and in the nature of \par things sure grounds for the belief in God as a \par personal and moral Being. \par \par The ever-changing phenomena in a universe, which \par nevertheless does not pass away, constrain us to \par \par \par \par THE PERSONALITY OF GOD. 7 \par \par think of and believe in an unchanging reality which \par underlies all things. The power, the life, the \par fruitfulness of nature seem to speak of an abiding \par presence immanent in nature. Matter never comes \par before us as matter and nothing else. When we \par look at matter it is clearly seen to be matter in \par motion, and so impelle d by some power : or matter \par at rest, and so acted upon by equal and opposing \par forces : or matter animated by life and characterised \par by growth, as we have it in plants and trees : or \par matter remarkable for its form and colour, and thus \par distinguished for its beauty like the flower : or \par matter endowed with sensation, as we have it in the \par animal : or matter inhabited by mind and guided \par and directed by reason and conscience, as we have \par it in man. \par \par !And so the material universe inevitably leads us \par beyond itself to the Power the Presence which is \par within, behind, and above nature. \par \par " Yes, write it in the rock Saint Bernard said \par Grave it on brass with adamantine pen : \par 'Tis God Himself becomes apparent, when \par God's wisdom and God's goodness are display^, \par For God of these His attributes is made." \par \par And when reasoning from the works of God to Him \par whose works they are, we must not forget that man" \par is part of the universe whose existence has to be \par accounted for. Man is the flower and crown of \par creation, but he belongs to it. And when we dream \par of explaining the universe by a fortuitous concourse \par of atoms, we must think of man with his reason, \par conscience, free-will ; with his sympathies, affections, \par unselfish acts, self-denying deeds ; with his efforts \par \par \par \par 8 THE PERSONALITY OF GOD. \par \par for the welfare and his struggles for the exist#ence of \par others. \par \par If all things owe their existence to the blind \par operation of mechanical laws how are we to \par account for the free acts of man ? We may, of \par course, say that human freedom is not so unqualified \par a thing as many imagine it to be. But we know that \par man is responsible only to the extent to which he is \par free, and we all feel that there is much, very much \par indeed, in our lives for which we are responsible. \par And so every action of human fre$e will is a miracle \par to physical and chemical and mathematical science. \par \par And how are we to account for the " moral \par imperative" as it is felt by the human conscience? \par The " I ought " that is for ever welling up from the \par depths of our being is a strange fact. It speaks to \par us not in the way of information, but commandment. \par It tells us that we are under the obligation of a \par moral law which we did not make, but which we \par must obey a moral law which we are% constrained \par to think of as emanating from a personal author. \par And so it introduces us to another mind, before \par which we bow in instinctive homage a mind stored \par with the same moral order as our own, if not indeed \par the source of that order in ourselves. The power \par which made the world and all things has bestowed \par on man that moral consciousness which condemns \par what is evil, approves what is good, and urges us \par on in the path of purity and holiness. And so this& \par moral consciousness in man is it not a suggestion \par of moral consciousness without? a proof in fact that \par God is a moral Being? for man's moral consciousness \par is God's voice in man. \par \par \par \par THE PERSONALITY OF GOD. 9 \par \par When we think of these things after this fashion, \par we can with calmness and confidence turn our faces \par backward towards the beginning of the universe, and \par ask ourselves the questions, Is Spirit self-existent and \par eternal ? o'r Is it a function of matter ? Is matter \par self-existent and eternal ? or Has matter been brought \par into existence by Spirit ? \par \par In the human personality in which alone we can \par find an analogy imperfect and inadequate doubt- \par less to the Divine Personality, spirit and matter are \par always found together. And spirit is here so closely \par connected with matter, and apparently so dependent \par upon it, that it is difficult for us to think of the \par spirit of man as exis(ting apart from the material \par body. But whatever may be the origin of the spirit \par in man, and however unimportant it may seem to be \par when we are in infancy, there can be no doubt that \par the spirit gradually asserts itself, until it occupies a \par position that is significant in the extreme. The \par matter of our bodies is for ever changing, but our \par spirit remains one and the same, and throughout the \par whole of its experience it is conscious of its identity. \par Our bodie)s are acted upon and shaped by what is \par external to them, but our spirits determine themselves \par from within, and without compulsion elect what they \par are going to do and what they are going to be. It \par is the spirit that thinks, wills, loves, distinguishes \par between good and evil, chooses its own end. And \par the transcendent importance of our spiritual nature is \par even more clearly seen when we notice that while \par spirit can be of no use to matter, matter is of " inces- \p*ar sant and inevitable use to spirit." Except when we \par are asleep, the spirit never ceases to use the eyes, \par \par \par \par 10 THE PERSONALITY OF GOD. \par \par the ears, the mouth, the hands, or the feet. So \par thoroughly indeed in every way does the uncon- \par scious matter of our bodies not to speak of the \par matter that is outside us serve the purposes and \par minister to the needs of our self-conscious, self- \par determined spirits, that it is difficult for us to keep \par+ from believing that it exists to serve the purposes of \par spirit. \par \par It may not be easy for us to think of spirit as \par existing and acting without matter : but it is im- \par possible for us to think of matter as existing and \par acting without spirit. It may be difficult to think \par of matter as owing its existence to spirit, but it is \par impossible for us to think of spirit as an evolution \par from matter. For evolution does not create. It \par can only bring forth as a res,ult what has been in \par some way present in the process. A process of \par evolution, therefore, which ends in spirit must have \par had spirit in it from the beginning. \par \par When we think of God as the great first cause \par of all things, we do not require to think of Him as \par existing by Himself for an eternity before resolving \par to create the world. Neither do we require to \par restrict His creative functions to a single act to \par imagine Him creating the substance of the wor-ld \par in a moment, endowing it with the faculty of the \par most extensive evolution, and then troubling Him- \par self no further about it. \par \par Doubtless it is difficult for us to picture to our- \par selves how the eternal purpose did actually realise \par itself in time. But the difficulty seems to be \par lessened when we think of God not as mere arbi- \par trary power, but as intelligence, love, wisdom, holi- \par \par \par \par THE PERSONALITY OF GOD. 11 \par \par ness ; not a.s a mere abstract self-identical unity, \par but as a self-revealing spirit whose very nature \par makes it necessary for Him to reveal Himself in \par order to realise the glory and blessedness which \par are possible for Him. When we think of God after \par this fashion it is not unreasonable to expect that \par He should eternally manifest His inner nature in \par " an infinite cosmos of inter-related physical and \par psychical agencies." \par \par Modern science knows nothing of a beginning/. \par As to the origin of matter and life it can, apart \par from inference and speculation, neither affirm nor \par deny creative power. \par \par All things in this world are for ever changing: \par but most scientific men in these days believe in \par what has been called the law of substance, which \par embraces the chemical law of the conservation of \par matter as well as the physical law of the conserva- \par tion of energy. The law of the conservation of \par energy asserts that the su0m of force which is at \par work in infinite space is unchangeable, however \par many transformations its constituent parts may \par undergo. The law of the persistence or indestructi- \par bility of matter declares that the sum of matter \par which fills infinite space is ever the same, however \par much its component parts may change their shape \par or nature. \par \par But even the most thorough-going believers in \par the conservation of matter and energy may not be \par so far removed as 1they imagine from a legitimate \par Christian belief on the subject of the origin of \par things, for according to this law a body has merely \par changed its form when it seems to have disappeared, \par \par \par \par 12 THE PERSONALITY OF GOD. \par \par and it is merely a question of change of form in \par cases where a new body seems to have been pro- \par duced. But all scientific men admit that the \par physical universe as it now exists is greatly different \par from what it must have b2een in the dim and distant \par past, while the great majority of them maintain that \par the matter of the universe, which is now so solid, \par is likely to have been, at successive periods as we \par go backward, in a state which we may justly charac- \par terise as viscous, fluid, gaseous, etheric, and so \par practically invisible to such eyes as ours. There is \par nothing, therefore, absurd in the belief that the \par visible universe in which God now dwells, and \par through which He reve3als Himself unto the children \par of men, may have been at one time the invisible \par vesture of the Great Unseen. And when scientific \par belief maintains that the visible universe came forth \par from the unseen, it is not out of harmony with \par Christian faith, which understands ' that the worlds \par were made by the word of God : so that things \par which are seen were not made of things which do \par appear.' Moreover, when scientific men declare that \par the universe, which began in 4time, may in time \par come to an end, they are in accord with St. Paul \par and St. Peter, who say : ' The things which are \par seen are temporal, but the things which are not \par seen are eternal.' ' The heavens shall pass away \par with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with \par fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are \par therein, shall be burned up.' \par \par With regard to the beginning of the universe, \par of which we can know so little, one remark may \par saf5ely be made. \par \par \par \par THE PERSONALITY OF GOD. 13 \par \par If the present visible universe came forth from \par the invisible if the unseen universe gave birth to \par the seen then the force which brought about the \par change must have had its origin in will force, which \par is the product of mind ; for, so far as we know \par anything on the subject, it is spirit alone that is \par self-determined and able to originate change without \par compulsion from without. \par \par Wh6atever else the universe is, it is a universe of \par changes ; of effects produced by causes which are \par themselves effects. And if we are not to go back- \par ward for ever from physical cause to physical cause, \par we must come at last to spirit : for physical causes \par are not in the true sense causes at all. They are \par simply the antecedents or conditions which transmit \par causation which they themselves cannot originate. \par It is spirit alone that is self-conscious and self- \pa7r determined, and able out of its own inner nature \par to originate change. Spirit must, therefore, have \par existed before the time when that process of \par development was set agoing which has resulted \par in our present physical universe. Before any \par given point of time, before the happening of \par any event or change, God was, God must have \par been. When we remember this, we see how self- \par evidently truthful is the great assertion made in \par the opening words of Genesis, ' I8n the beginning \par God created the heaven and the earth.' \par \par The relation of the Divine Personality to the \par human is an extremely interesting but profoundly \par difficult subject. In every act of conscience we \par distinguish between what is and what ought to \par be, between the promptings of our inclinations and \par \par \par \par 14 THE PERSONALITY OF GOD. \par \par passions and the voice of the moral consciousness \par which seems to be of us, but which we recognise \par 9 to be over us, and which, somehow or other, we \par are constrained to think of as the voice of God \par within us. In this way the finite self awakes to \par find over against its own self " an infinite self \par making its presence felt by waves of emotion, new \par and most wonderful." The human soul is neither \par self-derived nor self-subsisting, but, however depend- \par ent upon God we may feel ourselves to be, we \par are never so carried away by the thought, " God \par is all," that we: are unable to distinguish between \par ourselves and Him who is all in all. Our power \par to resist the moral order of the universe, the \par existence of sin and our sense of responsibility, \par remind us that we have an individuality and a \par freedom which are not illusory, and that the human \par spirit cannot be regarded as " a mere mode of the \par universal spirit." \par \par The human personality is a unity, not simple \par and undifferentiated, however, but highly complex, \par mad;e up of many parts, faculties, functions which \par act and react on each other and which are necessary \par to the existence of each other and of the whole. \par \par May it not, indeed, be asserted that every person \par is a trinity in unity ? Are not body, soul, and \par spirit a trinity in unity ? Does not a man think \par and feel and will with three different sides of his \par one nature ? We are all well-acquainted with the \par conscious self, but have we not discovered in these \par laal capacities would be \par undeveloped, and we would remain strangers to \par those deeds of love and self-sacrifice which enable \par us to emerge from the narrow and dead life of \par self-centred individuality, and to become partakers \par in a wider and fuller life which ennobles and en- \par riches. But is not the first stage in our association \par with others to be found in the family which is \par the unit of society ? And does not the family \par imply the existence of father, mother, c?hild ? And \par is it not, therefore, a trinity in unity ? After \par the same fashion, Is it not impossible for us to \par think of God as a self-identical unity who is \par shut up for ever in blank potentiality of Being ? \par God is love, we say. But love is social in its \par character, and where could God's love from the \par first find satisfaction save within the unity of the \par Godhead ? And how could God's greatness be \par realised and His blessedness perfected apart from \par \par @ \par \par 16 THE PERSONALITY OF GOD. \par \par the wonderful visible universe which reflects His \par glory, and the children of men who were made \par in His image and whose very fall has been the \par occasion for a signal manifestation of the Divine \par compassion and mercy? \par \par When we think of these things after this manner \par we become less inclined than, perhaps, formerly we \par were to find fault with the Christian doctrine with \par regard to God that doctrine which represAents God \par not as a self-identical unity, but as a self-revealing \par Spirit ; a Trinity in unity who, in perfect love, and \par for the realisation of their glory and blessedness, \par go forth from out themselves " to create, to sustain, \par to redeem, to sanctify, to bless." \par \par \par \par II. \par \par THE WORLD AND THE LIFE OF MAN : \par HOW THE OLD TESTAMENT WRITERS \par LOOKED AT THEM. \par \par The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In \par his hand areB the deep places of the earth : the strength of hills is \par his also. ... O come, let us worship and bow down : let us \par kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God ; and we are \par the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand (Psalm xcv. 3). \par \par " CONDUCT," says Matthew Arnold, " is three- \par fourths of life." With at least equal truth it is \par possible for us to assert that the standpoint from \par which the Old Testament writers looked at things \par was three-foCurths of their inspiration. \par \par The best and clearest thinkers in Israel were as \par far as possible from being materialists or poly- \par theists. They were convinced that matter was \par neither the only nor the most important thing \par in the universe. Behind matter and force they \par discovered a mysterious agency a Presence a \par Person of whose existence they were as sure as \par they could be of anything that is to be seen by \par the outward eye. In short, they perceived and \pDar realised the existence and character of the one \par \par B \par \par \par \par 1 8 THE WORLD AND MAN. \par \par only living and true God in a way that was \par quite unique. \par \par And their exalted thoughts about God naturally \par determined their method of looking at the world \par and at the life of man. They never dreamt of a \par religion without God, or of a philosophy of \par human life which did not take into account the \par universe that is around us, and of which we forEm \par a part the God who has created all things, and \par in whom we live and move and have our being. \par \par " Know well thyself, presume not God to scan, \par The proper study of mankind is man." \par \par The wisest and best Israelites would have rejected \par the pre-supposition that underlies such words as \par these, for to them God was knowable and, to a \par certain extent at least, known, and they clearly \par perceived that we could not know ourselves well \par and truly without Fknowing something at least \par about the universe and the Creator of it the \par Eternal not-ourselves that makes for righteous- \par ness. And so they thought of all things in their \par relation to God. ' In the beginning God ' these \par opening words of Genesis give us the key-note \par not merely to the story of creation, but also to \par the whole of the Bible. \par \par Moreover, in consequence of their clear vision \par of God the sacred writers are always on the out- \par look for, anGd they are better able than others are \par to recognise, indications of God's presence in the \par world of men. They saw God's hand in the rise \par and fall of nations, and history was to them the \par unfolding of His purpose. \par \par \par \par THE WORLD AND MAN. 19 \par \par The Bible, consequently, was not meant to give \par us facts of history merely. Even the historical \par portions were not written solely with the intention \par of relating to the Jewish people the important \par H incidents and events in their national history. \par They were written that all of us might know \par something of the way in which God deals on the \par whole with nations, and with individual men and \par women in this world. \par \par And the prophetical Books of Scripture have a \par moral and spiritual meaning and purpose which can- \par not be overlooked. It is a mistake to think of pro- \par phecy as history written beforehand, or to believe that \par the Prophets were merely foretellersI of future events. \par The Prophets were profoundly interested in the \par secular welfare of their people, and their counsels \par and warnings were founded on a true knowledge \par of what was taking place around them, and on a \par right understanding of the natural tendency or \par drift of affairs. But they were, above all things, \par preachers of moral and religious truth. Owing to \par their clear spiritual vision they could penetrate \par more deeply beneath the surface and could see \pJar more clearly than others into the heart of things ; \par and so they could interpret more truly than others \par what God was doing and commanding in their \par own age, and they were better able than others \par to foretell what, in judgment and redemptive mercy, \par God meant to do and must do in the divine \par event. \par \par And this reminds us of the fact that the Books of \par Scripture were written with a special purpose as well \par as from a special point of view. From first to lKast \par \par \par \par 20 THE WORLD AND MAN. \par \par their constant purpose is that of leading men to God, \par whose nature and character they ever more and \par more clearly reveal. \par \par No writers see so clearly or realise so keenly the \par great, the awful difference between right and wrong, \par good and evil, righteousness and sin. They have an \par enthusiasm for righteousness, for in their eyes it is \par the doing of that which is pleasing in the sight of \par Him whose naLme is Holy, whose power is irresistible, \par and who is for ever blessing those who fear and \par serve Him. And no writers have so great a horror \par at sin, for it is rebellion against God the doing of \par that which is diametrically opposed to the will of \par Him who hateth evil and whose righteous judgments \par are for ever going forth against all workers of \par iniquity. And no writers are so terribly alive to \par the fact of sin's existence. They see it where ordi- \par nary eyes areM unable to discern it. They see it \par tainting almost every action of the great majority \par of men and women. They see it at the centre \par of our being poisoning the springs of life. And so \par they are forever warning men and women against \par sin, forever exhorting us to do that which is \par pleasing in the sight of God. ' Be sure your \par sin will find you out.' ' Though hand join in \par hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished.' ' Ye \par that love the Lord hate evil : he preservetNh the \par souls of his saints : he delivereth them out of the \par hand of the wicked.' \par \par How or when some of the apparently earlier \par Books of the Old Testament assumed exactly their \par present form, how or when the Israelites came to \par believe that their national Jehovah was the righteous \par \par \par \par THE WORLD AND MAN. 21 \par \par Ruler of all nations, and of the whole universe, we \par need not for our present purpose inquire. Doubt- \par less it was only graduaOlly, and as they were taught \par by men peculiarly susceptible to moral and religious \par truth, and as they were disciplined by the stern \par logic of events, that even the most faithful reached \par the pure and exalted conception of God and our \par personal responsibility to Him which is to be found \par in the Prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and \par Ezekiel. But " for the root idea from which the \par perfect flower grew " we may have to go back to a \par very much earlier periodP in Jewish history. " Israel \par on the way to exile is on the way to become Israel \par after the Spirit." These words are true, but it is \par possible to make too much of the truth which they \par contain. The exile purified, broadened, and en- \par nobled Israel's thoughts of God, but did the exile \par originate Israel's faith in God ? \par \par Whatever we may think on this subject one \par thing is certain. When the Israelites did believe in \par one God who is Lord of all, and when theyQ did \par realise in thought the full significance of what \par they believed, a great revolution must neces- \par sarily have been effected in their thoughts, beliefs, \par convictions with regard to the world and to the life \par of man. \par \par We are all aware of the great change in men's \par views brought about by the acceptance of the \par Copernican in place of the older astronomy which \par regarded the earth as the centre of our system, while \par the sun, moon, and stars were thougRht of as mere \par ornaments of our firmament or light-givers to the \par earth. How changed men's views of things became \par \par \par \par 22 THE WORLD AND MAN. \par \par when they realised the truth that the sun is the \par centre of our system and that the earth is merely \par a planet revolving round the sun. When this great \par fact was brought home to the minds of men \par astronomers had to recast their science, whilst multi- \par tudes who were not astronomers had to alter radicallSy \par many of the opinions which they had held tenaciously \par for years. \par \par And yet the revolution brought about by the \par Copernican system of astronomy is as nothing when \par compared with the revolution effected in the thoughts \par and lives of men when they began to look at the \par world and human life with the eyes of the sacred \par writers, for then the truth was borne in upon them \par that the things which are unseen are eternal, that the \par life is more than meat and Tthe body than raiment, \par and that righteousness, truth, and goodness are \par infinitely more important than those things towards \par which the hearts of the children of men are usually \par so strongly inclined. There is no comparison, \par from the point of view of religion, between the \par position of the man who worships idols and whose \par religion consists in rites of an absurd or debasing \par kind, and that of the man who realises the great- \par ness and the holiness of God, and whUo, in answer \par to the question, ' Wherewith shall I come before \par the Lord and bow myself before the high God ? ' \par is able to say, ' He hath shewed thee, O man, \par what is good, and what doth the Lord require of \par thee, but to do justly and to love mercy and to \par walk humbly with thy God ' ; ' Thou desirest not \par sacrifice, else would I give it : thou delightest \par not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a \par \par \par \par THE WORLD AND MAN. 23 \par \par brVoken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, \par thou wilt not despise.' \par \par And are not men greatly strengthened for the \par doing of what they know to be their duty, and is \par not their sense of the importance of right doing \par intensified and deepened, their perception of what \par is right for them clarified and quickened, when they \par pass from the point of view of morality to that of \par religion and look at things from the theological \par standpoint of the Jews of olWd ? It may he true \par that the earliest religions do not seem to stand in \par a close relation to morality. The mighty tyrants \par worshipped by men in ancient times were often \par thought of as appeased, not by the moral actions \par and fair lives of men, but by gifts, offerings, sacri- \par fices, deeds which might be of an illegitimate or \par immoral kind. \par \par It may be true that morality is not dependent \par on Theology, and even when we do not admit that \par conscience is thXe product of social opinion and \par custom, we may believe that moral ideas have arisen \par and been developed in the social life of man, and \par have only afterwards been set up in connection with \par the gods. But if higher conceptions of duty have \par led men to nobler thoughts of God, we must not \par forget that worthy religious beliefs have done much \par to advance the ethical ideas of men, and have \par helped them to live more consistently in harmony \par with them. \par \par It iYs impossible to read the Old Testament with- \par out perceiving that with the Israelites morality was \par closely connected with religious belief. And because \par the God in whom they believed was a moral deity, \par \par \par \par 24 THE WORLD AND MAN. \par \par this close connection of religion and morality was a \par great gain to them. \par \par How could such a people in such circumstances \par as those in which they often found themselves have \par retained their faith in moral trutZh if it had been \par regarded as having no connection with religious \par belief? Must there not have been to them a \par marvellous reinforcement in hope, confidence, and \par strength when as their thoughts came back, so \par to speak, from heaven to earth they felt themselves \par possessed of the unwavering conviction that when \par they were doing their duty they were doing what \par God wished them to do : that when they were \par obeying the dictates of conscience they were obey- \par in[g the voice of God within them : and that when \par they were living in harmony with the moral law, \par which is in us and of us and yet over us, they were \par in league with Him who is from everlasting to ever- \par lasting, and whose plans and purposes cannot fail ? \par \par And what a blessed experience must have been \par vouchsafed unto the select few who, in virtue of their \par true conception of God, had at least a glimpse of \par the meaning of " the calling of Israel " ! For when \pa\r other Jews were wrapped up in a selfish exclusive- \par ness and puffed up by the narrow belief that the \par chosen people were the favourites of Heaven and \par destined to be the only recipients of that great \par salvation which would yet be forthcoming from the \par Lord, they were able to rejoice in the thought that \par Israel was the servant of Jehovah and elect for the \par sake of mankind the nation through whom other \par nations were to receive ' the light ' and the blessings \par ]which come from a knowledge of the true God the \par \par \par \par THE WORLD AND MAN. 25 \par \par nation which, though punished, afflicted, purged, \par chastened, purified, was yet to be the means by \par which other nations would share in a salvation \par which, because needed by all, was meant for all. \par \par \par \par III. \par \par \par \par FAITH IN GOD AT THE ROOT OF JEWISH \par HOPES AND EXPECTATIONS. \par \par Where is thy zeal and thy strength, . . . are they restrained?^ \par (Isaiah Ixiii. 15). \par \par Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come \par down (Isaiah Ixiv. i). \par \par THE same facts often make different impressions \par upon, or suggest different inferences to, different \par people. \par \par One man looking over the pages of history sees \par nothing therein but isolated events of more or less \par interest and importance, while to another they \par contain a record of God's way with man. One \par man, as he scans the_ face of nature, sees nothing \par but particles of matter and thinks of nothing \par but blind force and mechanical laws, but another \par sees God everywhere and looks upon nature as \par God clothed in material dress that thus He may \par appeal through our senses to our souls. And it \par was even so with the people of old. When \par they looked at nature and at human life, some \par saw things which others did not see and realised \par the meaning and significance of things on which \par \p`ar \par \par FAITH IN GOD. 27 \par \par others put little or no stress. What we may \par call the prior spiritual convictions of men were \par different, and so they interpreted what was before \par them in different ways. \par \par Take, for example, the attitude of men and \par women towards the sterner and more sorrowful facts \par of life. \par \par Those who were unspiritual and unbelieving were \par confirmed in their unbelief by what they saw. How \par can there be a righteous God, athey asked, when the \par inequalities of life are so great and when there is \par so much sin and sorrow in the world ? How can \par a righteous God bear so long with the sins of wicked \par men ? How can a just God permit so many and \par so great inequalities and injustices to exist in human \par life? And so they said there is no God, and if \par there be He has forsaken the earth and cares not \par at all for us miserable men. \par \par But the prior spiritual convictions of pious and \par b enlightened Jews would never, for more than a \par moment, tolerate such inferences and conclusions \par from even the saddest of facts. To them God, \par though invisible to the bodily eye, was yet the most \par real and powerful fact in all the universe of being, \par and the sternest and most perplexing experiences \par in life were not able to make them give up their \par faith in God. There might be, there were, things \par in human life which perplexed them, and which \par they could not rceconcile with the existence of God : \par but God, they felt sure, was on His throne over- \par ruling all things, and they were convinced that He \par would yet make light to arise in the darkness, so \par that men might clearly see Him energising wonder- \par \par \par \par 28 FAITH IN GOD. \par \par fully, and causing all things to work together for \par good to them that loved Him. \par \par The Israelites had been long in Egypt, and we \par may be quite certain that in many ways they owded \par much to a people who for hundreds, if not for \par thousands, of years before the exodus were far \par advanced in learning, in art, in civilisation. The \par Jews of St. Stephen's time meant more than some \par of us are inclined to think when they said that Moses \par was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. \par Nevertheless there was one all-important matter in \par regard to which Moses, after the example of \par Abraham, wished his people and himself to be \par clearly markeed off from those among whom they \par dwelt. A few of the Egyptians may have been \par possessed of a worthy conception of God, but in \par the religion of the people there were gods many \par and idols innumerable, with customs and practices \par of an absurd and degrading kind ; and from all \par these Moses naturally wished his people to be free. \par Moreover, while the Egyptians believed in a future \par life and in a judgment after death, their belief was so \par darkened by baleful superstfitions and doleful legends \par that the future, with its sombre gloom, overshadowed \par for them the immediate practical duties of the \par present. Instead of being to them an inspiration \par and a help, their belief in a future life was a night- \par mare which robbed them of their strength. \par \par Possibly it was because Moses clearly perceived \par the hurtful character of the Egyptian belief in a \par future life that he was divinely led towards that \par belief which he tried to imprgess upon his people \par belief in an ever-present God, governing and guiding \par \par \par \par FAITH IN GOD. 29 \par \par now, rewarding the righteous, pardoning the peni- \par tent, and punishing the guilty. And it may have \par been because Moses believed his people to be \par specially blessed of Him whose power and good- \par ness they recognised, and whose will they obeyed \par a divine society certain to be supported by an \par extraordinary Providence that in the earlier books \par h of the Bible so little stress is laid upon the doctrine \par of a future life that some have been inclined to \par wonder whether, at first, the children of Israel were \par even so much as acquainted with it. \par \par Now it is not difficult to see that when believing \par as Moses had taught them the children of Israel were \par not destitute of a reason for the faith that was in \par them a reason vaguely felt if not always clearly \par seen. \par \par For, after all, it is man's inhumanitiy to man that \par causes such countless thousands to mourn; and why \par should we blame God for the evil done by man ? \par There is one thing in the universe which God did \par not create, and that is sin, whose evil and hurtful \par consequences to the sinner as well as to others are \par more or less apparent unto all. Sin owes its origin \par to man, who is a Self, a Personality , endowed with \par the gift of freedom and self-determination, without \par which a moral life is impossible, anjd who can, and \par only too often does, introduce disorder, lawlessness, \par rebellion into the world by ignoring his true place \par in the universe of being, and putting his own will in \par the place of the will of Him who is, and ought to be \par recognised as, supreme. \par \par But when we overlook what evil man hath done \par to himself and to his brother man by his sin, and \par \par \par \par 30 FAITH IN GOD. \par \par think only of our relationship to Him who is in- \par visiblek, we cannot fail to perceive the abiding good- \par ness of the Lord. Is not our existence a thing for \par which we ought to be thankful ? Is it not a \par glorious thing that God hath prepared for us a \par habitation in this wonderful universe? that we are \par privileged to look abroad upon the marvels and \par beauties of earth and sky and sea, to experience the \par pleasurable consciousness of continued life and \par activity, and to know that our every blessing comes \par down to us from lHim who causeth His sun to shine \par upon the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the \par just and on the unjust? \par \par In the eyes of the Jews material possessions \par bulked very largely, and it was difficult for them to \par believe that a man was blessed of God if he was not \par successful, rich, and honoured. And was there not \par an element of truth at the root of such a belief? \par Even in a disordered state, where unjust laws pre- \par vailed, were not God-fearing, conscientmious, honest, \par thrifty, hard-working men and women as likely as \par any others to secure a competent portion of the \par good things of this life ? And even in such a state, \par when we look long enough at human life, do we not \par often see good men come at last to their own, while \par mischief, sorrow, and disaster sooner or later follow \par in the train of godlessness, vice, knavery, and pro- \par fligacy? 'Though a sinner do evil an hundred times \par and his days be prolonged, yet snurely I know that \par it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear \par before him ; but it shall not be well with the wicked.' \par ' I have seen the wicked in great power and spread- \par ing himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed \par \par \par \par FAITH IN GOD. 31 \par \par away, and lo, he was not : yea, I sought him, but \par he could not be found. Mark the perfect man \par and behold the upright: for the end of that man is \par peace.' \par \par Moreover, however mateorialistic the Jews might \par be in their ideas with regard to prosperity it did not \par require a very pious Jew to see that material \par blessings were not the only good things of which a \par man could be possessed. Were not they who trusted \par in the Lord and who strove at all costs to do what \par they believed to be His will, possessed, as a rule, of \par an inward satisfaction, a peace of mind, a strength, a \par hope, a confidence which were altogether wanting in \par the case of thospe who were unbelieving, faithless, \par sinful ? And was there not a restlessness, a dissatis- \par faction with self, a wretchedness, a misery in the \par hearts and lives of the godless, the unbelieving, the \par careless, the sinful, which even the greatest material \par prosperity was not able to remove or undo ? \par ' Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel \par of the ungodly . . . but his delight is in the law of \par the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and \par nightq.' ' Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who \par walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that \par keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the \par whole heart.' \par \par At the same time we must carefully remember \par that the question as to the inequalities and injustices \par in human life did not come before the minds of the \par children of Israel in the way in which it presents \par itself to us. For with the Israelites the great thing \par was not the individual, but the framily, the tribe, and, \par above all, the nation in which all property and \par \par \par \par 32 FAITH IN GOD. \par \par power were centred and which assigned to the \par individual the status, the power, the authority which \par he possessed. And so in their eyes there was \par nothing very irrational in the idea that God should \par punish the community for the sake of the individual, \par or that the father's virtues and vices should be \par visited on the children or the children's chilsdren. \par They did not, therefore, when they attempted to \par justify the way of God with man, feel any great \par need of the doctrine of a future life, more especially \par as that life was for long only too often thought of as \par a life of inactivity, dulness, death the continued \par existence of pithless shades in a land of powerless- \par ness and forgetful ness. \par \par Even towards the close of the kingdom of Judah, \par when, in order to undo the evils of a fatalism that \par wast paralysing the efforts of the people and driving \par them to despair, the Prophets had to assert the \par worth and emphasise the responsibility of the indi- \par vidual, they did not summon to their aid the \par doctrine of a future life, for they still believed in the \par old doctrine which asserted that, all things con- \par sidered, the individual's experiences were in keeping \par with his deserts. But owing to the circumstances \par in which they found themselves they had to restate \par u the doctrine, calling attention to and strongly \par emphasising the sin fulness of those who suffer \par the iniquity of those who are afflicted of the Lord. \par ' In those days,' says Jeremiah, ' they shall say \par no more the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the \par children's teeth are set on edge. But every one \par shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth \par the sour grapes his teeth shall be set on edge.' \par \par \par \par FAITH IN GOD. 33 \par \par ' The soul thvat sinneth,' says Ezekiel, ' it shall die. \par The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, \par neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son ; \par the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, \par and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.' \par \par Jeremiah and Ezekiel, like Job, could not have \par been far away from belief in the doctrine of a future \par life. Nevertheless, without it, and with the aid of \par the old doctrine, they were able, so they werew per- \par suaded, to solve the problem with which they had to \par deal. And we are the less inclined to wonder at \par this conviction of theirs when we remember that to \par them the fate of the individual was overshadowed by \par the consciousness of the living presence of a God \par who concerned Himself, more especially, with the \par welfare and wellbeing of the people as a whole. \par \par With them, as with the great majority of the Jewish \par people in the days of old, the thought of xa God-fearing \par society upon the earth, a perfect kingdom supported \par by an extraordinary providence, was the thought \par which above all others possessed their minds. With \par them, therefore, the great question was, Will God's \par own kingdom yet be established on the earth in \par all its glory and in all its completeness ? Will \par God's own peculiar people yet be exalted and \par honoured among the nations ? And will all nations \par yet be constrained to confess that Jehovah is iny very \par truth the only living and true God ? \par \par The Prophets as they succeeded each other were \par inspired by hope as they looked forward to the \par future, for they saw their own nation chastened, \par transformed, exalted, and they pictured the advent \par of an age when Israel, freed from foreign oppressions \par \par c \par \par \par \par 34 FAITH IN GOD. \par \par and purified from ungodly members, would realise \par its ideal character and live an idyllic life of righteozus- \par ness. Yea, they had hope for other nations also, \par for ' the day of the Lord,' whose early dawn they all \par eagerly awaited, was a day when the power and \par glory of the Lord would be fully manifested before \par all men, and when the nations of the world, acknow- \par ledging God to be the Lord, would be incorporated \par with or made willing subjects of a glorified Israel, or \par else remaining irreconcilably hostile they would be \par utterly destroyed by God and His people. \{par \par Without a belief of this kind, how could the \par Prophets of Israel have borne themselves up with \par heart and hope in the presence of facts that often \par were disappointing in the extreme ? What was \par required, most people felt, was a signal manifesta- \par tion of the power of Almighty God. Proud and \par haughty men must be humbled, and godless and \par insolent nations must be made to see that they \par cannot continue to ignore and defy the Lord. \par \par And they were s|ure that this expectation of theirs \par would yet be realised. It must be so, for God \par exists and rules, and must prevail in the end. God \par is in His heavens, and sooner or later it would be \par right with their nation and with the world. \par \par And pious Jews had no doubt at all as to the \par truthfulness of the prophecies of their inspired \par Leaders and Teachers and as to the coming of that \par which to their mind was inevitable. One of the \par most remarkable things in Jewis}h history is this, \par that the star of hope never ceased to be visible to \par many, however dark and clouded the sky of their \par national life might seem to be. Hope sprang \par \par \par \par FAITH IN GOD. 35 \par \par eternal in the Jewish breast. Even in the time of \par direst calamity and deepest humiliation the sure \par vision of her best and ablest men foresaw and fore- \par told a time of deliverance and victory and greatness \par when He would come who would be mighty to \par ~save, who would restore the kingdom to Israel and \par reign in righteousness over the whole world. But \par the pious Jews were perplexed by the delay in the \par coming of that time. Why did God permit the \par world to go on as it was ? Why did He not at \par once interfere and deliver the world from sin and \par sorrow? Why did the great Deliverer delay His \par coming? Why did He not rend the heavens and \par come down and banish sin and sorrow and misery and \par oppression for ever from the earth ? ' Where is thy \par zeal and thy strength ' they cried to God ' are \par they restrained ? ' ' O that thou wouldest rend the \par heavens, that thou wouldest come down ! ' \par \par Who could have anticipated the strange and un- \par natural use which some have made of the hopes and \par expectations of the Jews? Who could have pre- \par dicted that they would be used as an argument \par against the divine origin of Christianity ? And \par yet so it has been. The wish was father to the€ \par alleged fact, some have said. Men invented what \par they were always expecting. And so we are re- \par minded that this tendency among people in former \par days to believe that a certain event was likely to \par happen is for us an argument against the belief that \par it has actually taken place. \par \par But such an argument can only hold good if the \par event expected be antecedently improbable, which in \par this case it is far from being. \par \par \par \par 36 FAITH IN GOD. \par \par If God be not a mere self-identical unity, but, as \par we have reason to believe, a self-revealing Spirit, is \par it not perfectly natural for Him to desire to enter \par into communication with the men and women He \par has called into being? And if He reveals Himself \par unto them, are we not entitled to expect that that \par Revelation will be made in a manner suitable to \par their needs and conditioned by their moral and \par spiritual capacity ? \par \par It is true that the ‚form in which the hopes and \par expectations of the Jews were popularly expressed \par had led the people of Christ's day to look for a \par deliverer of a kind greatly different from the one \par that was actually sent. But, as many people soon \par perceived, Christ really answered to the greatest \par needs, deepest longings, and noblest aspirations of \par the Jews, even when seeming to disappoint them. \par For the popular beliefs were crude representations \par of habitual and instinctive ƒconvictions which arose \par from the very depths of their being. They believed \par in a righteous God whose will must in the end be \par realised, and it was perfectly natural for them to be \par convinced that a life of sin is not the true and \par normal life for man, and that a world of increasing \par wickedness is not the world as God meant it to be, \par or as He wished it to be, or as He willed that in the \par future it should be. \par \par And why could not God have been in Christ ful„ly \par and abidingly even although He was born of a \par woman and made under the law? \par \par If God dwells anywhere on earth it is in the \par humble and pure heart. If God is to be seen any- \par where on earth it is in the life of man. And does \par \par \par \par FAITH IN GOD. 37 \par \par not God work out his plans and purposes in human \par affairs by the instrumentality of man ? We need \par not be surprised, therefore, when we find that the \par Divine Spiritual Power makes itse…lf manifest in the \par Man Jesus that it is from the bosom of humanity \par that He is raised up who is to be a light to lighten \par the Gentiles and the glory of His people Israel. \par And how could one sent by God redeem a sinful \par nation, not to speak of a wicked world, without \par opposition, conflict, pain, sorrow without being, as \par the Prophet foretold, ' despised and rejected of men, \par a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief with- \par out being wounded for our transgressi†ons and \par bruised for our iniquities without that sacrifice \par which the good of others demanded without that \par giving up of Himself for the wellbeing of others in \par which divine love reaches its highest expression and \par finds its richest, purest, most abiding blessedness ? \par \par The hopes and expectations of the Jews, there- \par fore, were not mere illusions without any ground in \par reason or in the nature of things. And instead of \par being an argument against the truth c‡ontained in \par the words, ' God sent forth his Son,' they, in reality, \par lead up to and prepare us for that great event which \par took place in ' the fulness of time.' \par \par \par \par IV. \par THE FULNESS OF TIME. \par \par When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his son \par (Gal. iv. 4). \par \par WHY was the advent of our Saviour so long \par delayed ? Why did He not come at a much earlier \par period in the world's history? \par \par When we are perplexed by this qˆuestion it will \par be well for us to remember the words, ' When the \par fulness of time was come, God sent forth his son.' \par \par The Gospel was withheld until the world was \par ready for its reception. The Saviour came when \par the course of preparation for His coming conducted \par through the previous ages was completed. \par \par Had our Saviour come into the world when \par Judaea was comparatively independent and severely \par intolerant, He might have been crushed at once by \par‰ those in authority, or innumerable and well-nigh \par insurmountable obstacles might have been put in \par the way of His work among the Jews. \par \par Had He come into the world long before the \par fulness of time, He might have come into a world \par divided up into countless separate kingdoms, jealous \par of each other, or at war with each other, and filled \par \par \par \par THE FULNESS OF TIME. 39 \par \par with people narrow-minded and prejudiced a set \par of circumstances whichŠ must have seriously impeded \par the work of the Apostles and missionaries in the \par early days of the Christian Church. \par \par But in the fulness of time Judaea was a province \par of the mighty Roman Empire an Empire that \par comprised almost the whole civilised world an \par Empire over the whole of which one language was \par well understood an Empire throughout which peace \par then prevailed, and wherein every kind of religion \par was tolerated an Empire so thoroughly organised \pa‹r that there was frequent and easy communication \par between the capital and the most remote provinces. \par It was now comparatively easy, therefore, for the \par disciples and followers of Christ to preach what \par they did preach and where they did preach it. \par \par And we must carefully remember that the Jews \par in Palestine were only a fraction of the Jews in the \par world at the coming of Christ. In the course of \par the ages the Jews had been scattered everywhere \par throughoutŒ the world, and everywhere they had \par made their influence felt. They were everywhere, \par and everywhere in force throughout the Roman \par world : and outside the Roman world there were \par great colonies in Babylon, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and \par in every place or city of any importance. And \par wherever they went the Jews carried their faith with \par them that faith which marked them off from all \par others that clear strong faith which filled them with \par hope and confidence, and which was so well able to \par hold its own against the superstitions of the world, \par and to arrest the attention of those who had no real \par faith in anything. \par \par \par \par 40 THE FULNESS OF TIME. \par \par But here we must pause to notice that moral \par discipline and those mental and spiritual movements \par by which the Jews had been prepared for the \par reception of the Universal religion. \par \par To the Israelites there was to be but one God, \par and His right to their sŽole allegiance was not to \par be doubted. But in the course of the ages the \par misfortunes and sorrows of God's people had often \par been so trying, so overwhelming, that had it not \par been for the Leaders and Prophets who from time \par to time arose in Israel, the faith of the great majority \par would have been seriously endangered. \par \par Now it does not surprise us to find, even in the \par earliest period of Israel's history, divine grace work- \par ing and good men striving for the removal of \par spiritual blindness and for the undoing of the evil \par which sin had wrought upon the earth. For while \par sin is the sign of man's fall, it may also be made \par the means of his moral uprising. Our moral sense \par brings home to us, and rebukes us for, our im- \par perfections and our sins. But in the very act of \par doing this, it becomes a witness to the divinity of \par our nature, and an earnest of the glory that may \par yet be ours. And so it is for us a divine voice \par calling upon us to forsake our sins exhorting us \par to be faithful to those Revelations which God is \par ever breathing into the consciences of those who \par seek to do His will and urging us on to heights \par of holiness to which we have not as yet attained. \par There is thus a divine side to the higher thoughts \par of men : and God is in every noble effort for the \par regeneration of the world. We are not perplexed, \par therefore, when we find it said in Scripture that \par \p‘ar \par \par \par \par \par THE FULNESS OF TIME. 41 \par \par God called Abraham, and that Abraham responded \par to the call. And we have no great difficulty in \par discovering the purpose which God meant to work \par out through the instrumentality of those faithful \par servants whom from time to time He raised up for \par the instruction and guidance of His own peculiar \par people. \par \par It is true that the children of Israel were often \par far from being what God wished them t’o be. Time \par after time they fell back into idolatry and super- \par stition : often, very often, they gave themselves up to \par grievous sin. Stern was, therefore, the discipline to \par which they had often to be subjected. Severe was \par often the chastisement wherewith the Lord chastised \par them. But not even in their greatest trials and tribu- \par lations did the most faithful wholly lose their faith \par in God. And, strange to say, at every turning- \par point in their history ther“e stood forth before them \par at least one man who spoke with authority, and who \par in the most earnest and impressive way pointed out \par to the people the real meaning and significance of the \par crisis that had overtaken or was about to overtake \par them. Even the enemies of Israel were, the Prophets \par asserted, in the hands of God, who determines the \par limits of their power, and can say to them, Thus \par far shalt thou come, but no further. Moreover, \par Jehovah's attitude towards Israel and all other \par nations was, the prophets declared, conditioned by \par His righteousness and justice; and what they \par asked could even the Jews expect from great and \par long-continued unfaithfulness to God and to His \par law but sorrow, mischief, and disaster, which were \par at once a manifestation of God's displeasure at sin, \par \par \par \par 42 THE FULNESS OF TIME. \par \par and an indication of the possibility that God's \par \pard purposes for man\cf2\fs23\par }